One of my mentors was a voracious reader of Carl Jung. Once, he told me something Jung had written about dreams: If we wake up from a dream laughing, we are likely releasing or healing something, letting it go. A shift is happening within us.
I suppose the same thing can be true about our waking hours. I was with another mentor recently when I told him something I had never shared with him before. Years ago, this was something I struggled with mightily. And in most circumstances, I think he would have responded with great sympathy and care.
But when I told the story, now that something had been transformed inside me, I told it with so much laughter. And he followed suit. I loved it. Sometimes we are healing and releasing something hard with a belly laugh.
Of course, it’s also true that we can laugh too soon as a coping mechanism. But when we’ve done the work and can add humor to our sharing or storytelling, I think that is a very freeing thing.
Have you had this experience before? Or perhaps lately?
Do you want to laugh — not at it, but within it?
—Renee Roederer
